Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Wild Win North of the Border

I wasn’t in Toronto, but I was keeping tabs on that game tonight and it was a wild one. David Ortiz went deep, so that means the Red Sox must have won. They are now 16-2 when the big man goes deep. It’s a good sign that he is starting to swing the bat again. The whole dynamic of the offense is different when Ortiz is the caliber of hitter he was in June and July, rather than April and May and the first half of August.

Speaking of getting locked in again, Jason Bay clubs another one tonight. His hot streaks can last a long time, as we witnessed earlier this year, so that’s big.

Beckett was due for an outing like this. I wonder if it is a coincidence that it comes on a night Jason Varitek was not behind the plate.

Hearty congratulations to the Pedroia family on the birth of son Dylan. I’m sure Dustin will be explaining the art of a laser show to his young boy in no time.

All for now.

Hope all is well.

Ian.

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160 Comments

You gotta love it….a night when the Sox score ten runs with Beckett on the mound and they squeak by. Oh well…a win is a win and you have to start somewhere. The bats were there and that is a good sign….let’s go Sox. Rangers lose. Time to hit the after-burners and get out fo Dodge. Don’t look back Sox….focus on the playoffs and keep the nose to the grindstone. There’s a lot of faith out here in Vegas!!!! Bay and Ortiz are needed for this last stetch run. It’s time for “lightning in a bottle”. Congrats Dustin… GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was one of Beckett?s worst outings. Beck had absolutely nothing from the first pitch. Because of the huge lead, Beckett had no business pitching in the 5th inning either which he gave up 2 runs let alone pitching the 6th inning. If I were the manager I would let Beck finish the 5th and get the win and call it a night. If the Sox lost, this would be another revisit of Smoltz?s outing again and again, the pivotal and fatal 6th inning. One batter too late cost Beckett?s 15th win and dented the hope for Cy Young a little.
V-Mart?s RBI double in the 8th after JD failed to get the run in with one outs proved to the difference of the game.
What?s wrong with Danny boy? Bard hasn?t had a good outing since A-Rod, Damon and Tex HRs.

I’m sure Francona is relieved that you approved his moves last night. lol. I’m with you regarding Ortiz, he should stay in that 7 hole the rest of the season!

Buchholz takes the mound tonight against another “ace”. Halladay tonight, Verlander last week in Boston and the start before he was against Sabathia. Buchholz will have to bring his “A” game tonight because the last time Halladay pitched against Boston, he shut them down! I would like too see Francona have Martinez behind the plate tonight, Lowell at third and of course Youk at first. You need your best offensive lineup in there tonight against Halladay. Memo to Francona, sit Varitek tonight! Varitek is in a BIG slump!

A Brian: I agree V-Mart should catch again tonight. My feeling is that Francona would likely sit Lowell against a RHP and Tek being a switch hitter. We know Tek is less effective from left side of the plate.

Mornin all: just checking in and hoping that Clay-BOY is Super MAN tonight, and that Halladay takes a holiday…
The bats really have awakened as of late, and it would be great if that could continue tonight.
Its been nice not having a hole up the middle (ss) recently. I know that Agon’s bat isnt huge but his glove sure is!!!
here’s to another win tonight!!!

If Clay continues to have a quality start like his last two outings against tough pitchers and Halladay has a unHalladay day, a win is very likely. Also, the Sox can’t afford to squander scoring opportunity against Halladay.

Buckie pitched well and ran into bad luck. The Sox didn’t score any run for him his last two outings. Poor kid had faced Sabathia, Verlander and will face Halladay, all Cy Young candidates. Let’s get a win for Buckie.

hey all!! Do we know for sure that Halladay is actually a human being, with a real beating heart?? I think he’s a drone or the son of the Bionic Man…. LET’S MAKE HIM ACT HUMAN!!! HOMERUNS FOR EVERYONE (ON THE REDSOX)
Make him look like an old beat up can opener!! See ya’ll later. GO-OOOOO SOX-XXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!
woooooooooooooo

Hi all,
I’m watching the Blue Jays broadcast (because I’m too cheap to buy the MLB Premium) and they showed the graphic that the Sox are 4th in the AL with a .270 average with RISP. I’m a little surprised. We are always complaining about them stranding so many runners, but they really aren’t doing too badly.

Viola has done a great job Ellen – no doubt about it. I like Eck – I like his wildness and that he was so not P.C. But I am delighted that Jerry is coming back – NO ONE can ever replace him. The Red Sox aren’t the same with out him!

GREG!!! Glad to hear about your dad!!! And I have having a TERRIBLE time posting tonight!!!!

I think that out of all of the “replacements” that we had (tho no one can really replace him) for RemDawg I like Viola the best… I dont even mind the accent, it actually adds a little bit of human-ness, like with Remy… Julia I know you love Eck, but I found him abit phony…sorry. Frank Viola sounds like “every-day guy”

Hey, all. How is everyone tonight?
Mike (shakenbake)! GOOD TO HEAR FROM YA! How are you!
Dad’s gonna make OK, we think! At least he wasn’t having cancer surgery! Outpatient (!) procedure.
Good to see Clay has been doing well, until now. 2 on, he has his work cut out for him!
I would LOVE to hear Viola on NESN longer term–including when Rem-Dawg is in the booth! GET WELL, REM-DAWG! I LIKE Viola a LOT! (I am watching ESPN with the sound OFF! Sut “Drive Me Off a Cliffe” is in the booth! AAAAAAAA!!)
GO SOX!

Garry, are there many on this pitching staff (outside of Beckett, until last night!) who CAN stand prosperity?! I haven’t seen that very often! GO SOX!
Julia, join the “I Can’t Post Tonight” Club! SIGH!

Buchholz can’t stand prosperity. He’s pitching well, gets a 3 run lead and starts throwing the ball all over the place. He’s been behind on every hitter this inning and he can’t pitch like that for long. He’s throwing pretty hard too. Very nice sequence to Ruiz. That’s all he’s gotta do. Changing speeds is like magic.

Garry, the article I read about the Smoltz signing said that he would be willing to pitch as a starter OR as a reliever. I don’t know if that is true or not, but I wish he had done so with us! I think if he had been a reliever from the beginning, he’d have fared much better with us. And if he had not been willing to do that, we should not have signed him, from the BEGINNING! Again, I can wish!… GO SOX!

Hey Ellen, things are good up here in the Jax area. I’m thinking about the end of September. This month has been hectic and it carries into the beginning of next month. So I might bring Jan and come down for a weekend. I’ll let you know for sure and maybe we can grab that old man of yours and head out to dinner somewhere.

Nice inning by Buchholz. He’s got good stuff and is twice as effective if he can get ahead in the count.

I see Smoltz signed with St. Louis and will be a starter for them. It was sad to watch him pitch for Boston. You just hate to see a pitcher of that caliber get killed like he did. It should be interesting to see how well he does.

Working tonight, just checking in a bit — didn’t expect to see this — we just have to make the playoffs somehow, and this miserable mid June to mid Aug, can be forgotten.

Smoltz joining the cards???? Wouldn’t that be a whole lot of collective eggs on all our faces (and I mean 99% or RSN) if the Cards and the SOX met in the WS this year, and Lugo and Smoltz contributed to taking the series. What are the odds?

Mike.. I ahve some luck with the Yankees, but the voodoo dolls I have are old, I’m waiting on the new breed… you know the one with arod posing in front of the mirror.. I had to pay extra for the accessory!!! Lip gloss extra too! shell pink I think it is!! lol.. (SORRY ROBERT!!)

NICE JOB, V-MART! HR!
And then Youk gets hit. Whodathunkit? Good to see Tito was getting fired up about that. Youk looked like he was saying something to the ump at 1B, like “Are you going to throw me out again?”! HMMM!…

WAY TO GO SOX! Nice job, Saito and BP!
As bad as that win was last night (who’d have thought we’d have a series win, playing like that?!), we finally are playing like we have some momentum, and some PURPOSE! WAY TO GO! Keep playing like this, guys! GO SOX!

Oh, btw.. did anyone read Youks lips when he reached 1st on the HBP?? He called the pitcher something that means adolescent kitty!!! Bad YOUK>>> (not) and Tito had some nice words for the ump too…
COWBOY UP BABY!!!

Thanks so much Ellen. Mother’s doing well, just a little slower to heal than she would have liked (moving in will do that, added to the fact that she can’t sit still!), but she’s about back to full strength. Dad’s was outpatient (!), not cancer! We’ll have to see how he does from here, but he SHOULD be OK! THANKS!
Yeah, Ellen, Youk (and Tito, for a change!) looked like he was daring someone to throw him out! I’ve been waiting to see that for a while! (That’s what we REALLY need, DGN, brawl or no brawl!) GO SOX! Take this momentum into the next series with the Yankees and the Rays, please! GO SOX!

I love that we are heating up just before the Yankee series!!! It was a great win tonight – it was nice for it to be less stressful. Dare we hope for a series sweep tomorrow night! WHOOO HOOOO!!! GO RED SOX!!!!!

It is amazing the Buchholz has been slated against Sabbathia, Verlander and Halladay. He pitched well enough to win all of those games and hung right in there with the big boys. I think he’s come a long way. I thought Tito did the right thing in getting him out after six innings even though he had only thrown 94 pitches. He lost a couple of tough games in a row and it was good to get him out of there with a real chance to get a win. Great job by the bullpen and if necessary, Tito will have Delcarmen, Bard and Papelbon at his disposal tomorrow night.

Ellen, I’ll keep you posted on my next sojourn south, but you have to pick the restaurant.

Great win for the Red Sox especially the Texas lost. I believe Texas blew a 4 run lead. Great win for Clay boy. You will never know baseball. The Jays knocked out our ace in 5.1 innings and we knocked out theirs in 5 innings. It is not polite not to return the favor.
The Sox are sitting alone atop the wc standing. I was surprised to see Oki-san since he pitched an inning (9 pitches only) the night before. I expected to see Ramirez, Saito, and perhaps Cabrera. I?d like to save Oki and the pen for the Yankees series. This is not a knock on Francona. Just my 2 cents.

9-7 very strange record for Jon Lester. He has to pick it up the rest of the season.
Isn’t this like the third straight season Wakefield has gone on long stints on the DL after ALL-Star break?
Had high hopes for Smoltzie, a guy I’m tired of is 3and2 Brad Penny. Next time he pitches see how many times he goes 3-2. Did he ever hear of throwing first pitch strikes.
Facts are facts, the Yankees have a dominant line-up. This weekend could knock the Sox out of any chance, of taking AL East. Better have all the guns loaded, pitching, defense, offense.
Sox should play this series like it was a play-off scenario. Get the mind-set straight for the remaining 40 games.

The Yankees have dominant lineup on paper. But their offense are not blowing teams away, not in the last series (- game 1) against Boston when the Sox bats were deadly dormant. They beat the Oakland 3-2 last night. The Yankees have been beating up on the teams they were supposed to beat and the Sox were unable to do until recently.
Just a thought, why not let Penny pitch tonight on regular 4 day rest and Lester (on extra days rest) tomorrow against the Yankees. I don?t like the matchup between Penny/Pettitte, Tazawa/Burnett at least on paper.

The Red Sox are now 17-2 when Ortiz hits a H.R. Another H.R. for Bay and FINALLY someone on the Red Sox doesn’t hit a solo H.R. Also FINALLY….FINALLY….The Red Sox beat a GOOD pitcher! Halladay was smacked around like Beckett was the night before. Boston had some great at bats last night. Also it was great to see Kotchman steal a base ( that lead to a run ) and Youkilis stole second. I think Boston should run more, pick your spots like they did last night. Youk held his cool when League lined him up last night. Will Lester answer back tonight? I’ll gurantee one thing, if Lester doesn’t, the Red Sox will answer back when the Jays come to Boston at the end of the month.

I guess if you can’t cut in Boston, you end up in St. Louis. I always thought Pawtucket was the Red Sox A.A.A. afilliate. LOL!! They got Pinero ( remember him folks?? ) Lugo, now Smoltz. What’s next??? Traber??? Woodward??? lol. Something tells me Smoltz will do well with the Cards. Smoltz was in the N.L. his entire career and he also has the BEST pitching coach in baseball with him.

a Brian: I would take Farrell over Duncan any time. See how a change of scenery can do to a pitcher and a hitter. Look at Aarsma who has 28 saves and ERA around 2.70 with Seattle. Joel Pinero is with St. Louie too?

Farrell is a good pitching coach but he isn’t in the same sentence as Dave Duncan. Duncan made Jeff Weaver look good during the playoffs in 2005. I never knew that was possible. Weaver takes off for free agency and was last seen catching a wave in Southern California. LOL! Duncan has been doing it for years and years, ever since I was in high school. Long ago. Farrell has only been doing it for a short time. I doubt the baserunners run on Duncan’s pitching staff like they do on Farrell’s. That is everyone’s biggest gripe with Farrell. Other than that I think Farrell is right up there. I just wonder how much long Farrell will be in Boston? He’ll end up as a manager or g.m. somewhere. Then again hiring a pitching coach as a manager usually doesn’t work out. Very few have done well.

a Brian: I guess you are right about Duncan. Funny is that Dave Duncan was never a pitcher. I think he was an infielder hitting below the Mendoza’s line. LOL
Duncan turned Dennis Eckersley into a premier closer at Oakland. The baserunners run on Varitek. Can’t fault Farrell for that.
Duncan is LaRusa’s personal pitching coach. I guess Duncan will retire if and when LaRusa quits managing.

How? How?
The Sox won TWO games in a row. That’s just not possible and yet…here we are.
Unfortunately, due to the schedule, Brad Penny goes against the Yanks this weekend. Wow…certainly can’t wait for that one!
A big part of this of course is David Ortiz and Bay FINALLY getting a streak going. Those two big bats really make a difference.
Clay NEEDS to stay with the Red Sox. How much more does he have to prove. He’s a young Matt Holliday! He’s amazing.

007…
Ducan was mostly a catcher ( he knows a thing or two about pitching )
Most of the time Varitek doesn’t have a chance. I don’t think Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk or Ivan Rodriguez in there prime would have a chance throwing out a runner if they were the catcher for the Red Sox this year. I’m not saying Varitek is a great catcher but at least give him a chance. I have seen many times this year, the runner wouldn’t even draw a throw. The reason why…The runner had such a big jump on the pitcher and Varitek wouldn’t have a chance at getting the runner. That falls on the shoulders of pitching coach John Farrell! He hasn’t fixed that all year and this just in…too late now!

Andy, I know that runners have been successful stealing against the Sox many times this season and last. I was listening to what Orsillo and Frank Viola were saying the other night. It is NOT always Tek they are running on, many times Tek doesnt have a chance due to the time the pitchers take to get to the plate. They steal (it seems) less on Beckett Lester and Buchholz. Penny is a given as is Dice-K (what is it with that stutter in his delivery and other Japanese pitchers too, Saito for example). I dont exempt Tek from blame in this but simply say that it doesnt entirely fall on his shoulders.. and as for his stiff neck, he needs to tell Heidi to lighten up!!! lol

this is my take on this weekends series….a few bloggers have hinted at why not use a spot starter for tonights game and then run lester out against the yankees….this is not what i would do….as much as i hate to admit it…we are playing for the wild card…this isnt bad news though….wild card teams are very cabable of winning the series….this would match us against LA and we all know that we own the angels in a a 5 game series….the yanks would have to play either detroit,whitesox or minn…..i think the whitesox will pull it out somehow….now…..to win the wildcard you need wins period…save your best pitchers to produce wins…that said …if we can sweep the yanks in the fens this weekend…the thinking will change…..i may be wrong but im thinkin this is the FO way of thinking now….if we were 4-5 back from NY you would see lester starting friday…not tonight….i have a warm fuzzy feeling starting though…i see fire in eyes again….if papi can get hot….well we all know what comes with that….the beaning of yuke needs to stop too….the reason he gets nailed isnt cause hes the team leader or the most feared sox batter…the reason is that he dives over the plate….in other words he seems to comfy and pitchers hate that….its one thing taking good rips on balls …but taking away the pitchers outside paint they dont like….make no mistake…he is targeted….go yuke….lol….i wish beckett and lester would buzz more guys like pedro used too….go sox……judge

well judge, per your theory, playing for the wc at this point — means the competition we worry about is the Rays and not the Yanks — and we haven’t fared so well against the Rays in two years.

Poor Texas, their schedule is probably the toughest of all baseball this month, they have to play the Yanks and Tampa, and Min. They will either prove they are one of the teams to beat, or be out of it by the end of this month.

In the mean time – staying ahead of the Rays may prove harder to do than catching the Yanks. Hmmm 7-3 = 4 last time I checked. So I would say our toughest competition to get in the playoffs is the Rays. I like to say, that anything can change in a moment (but sure hope that doesn’t happen for the Angels if we meet again in the playoffs).

Yanks and Rays play each other the last three games of the season, maybe one of them will eliminate the other for us, assuming we are right up there with them.

If the Sox can win tonight and sweep the Yankees, the Sox have a realistic chance of taking the division. And of course the Sox have to keep winning series from there on. The Yanks have to play LAA, White Sox, Tex, and other winning teams. I am not sure their pitching will hold in September. The Sox just have to win one game at a time.
Man, if Drew’s bat wakes up…………………..

Hi All!
It was a great win last night – Buchholz looked more like the kid who threw the no-hitter then the scared boy of last season. He still isn’t perfect but I liked what I saw last night. I hope they keep their bats hot tonight – it will give us momentum going into the weekend against the Yankees. I’ll be on and off tonight – I will be watching the Patriots game tonight as well.

What tcd – we are playing ourselves? Where were you to congratulate us on our wins the last two nights? If you come to annoy then you must also come to praise – or else please don’t bother wasting all those “11000010101010” with your gibberish.

I would agree 007 – it is the best lineup that we have had all season. Good luck to Ellsbury tonight – hope he can get the monkey off his back and set the record. And someone needs to tell Pedey – WE NEED PICTURES!!!!

tcd!! Good to see you! Thanks for thinking of us. I know deep down you are one of us, and are hoping for the best for each and every RSN member. We appreciate it! I’ll say it for you: GO SOX!! GO SOX!! GO SOX!!

Hi all. Had family in for the last few days and they commandeered my computer! Back on track now. Hey 007. I sure do like your optimism pal. A sweep of the Yankees!!! Possible I guess but highly improbable IMO. I will take a win tonight and everyone else around us to lose! GO SOX.

You guys are right. I need to forget about Lugo!
Tonight is when the Sox break the curse of Lugo and beat the Lugo Jays. Lugo Lester is on the mound and will pound those Lugo jays into the Julio ground. Tonight is when we Lugo shine! The Lugo Sox are FINALLY going to get a Julio sweep.
Let’s hear it for the Lugo’s!

I hope Smoltz does well in St. Louis. He is a class act. I don’t know why the Sox did not try him from the pen. I watched his pitching closely, and noticed that the ones that got smashed were not really bad pitches, they just seemed to be a tad off being good pitches. He was hitting his marks, he just wasn’t getting a lot of movement on the ball, and he may have been inadvertently tipping his pitches. It might be just a matter of making some small adjustments.

Good win tonight! I agree with those who say watch out for the Rays. Even if we win all 6 of the remaining games with the Yanks, all else being equal, we would still be one down on them. The Yanks have had the potential all along – they seem now to be finally playing as a team. That is scary. We can hope the wheels fall off their wagon, while at the same time watching out for the Rays and the Rangers breathing down our necks.

DAVE THERE IS NO, I REPEAT NO, ONE MORE TIME, NO LUGO CURSE.
We now have a shortstop named Alex Gonzalez now. He doesnt have a great big nat but he is pkugging the HOLE that WAS shorstop for our RedSox!!!! remember.
NO CURSE!!!

Did you know that in Armenian the word “Lugo” refers to a creature that is half human half goat and half bird, with a little lizard thrown in? This creature exhales smoke and flames and has a shrill piercing cry that has been known to shatter glass. Greg will back me up on the Armenian translation, I’m sure.
How he got to be a baseball player is not well known at this time. National Geo confirmed the findings. He’s also partly responsible for global warming and those shattered bats we see so often, twice last night with Kotchman’s lumber. The Armenian Devil. Also known as Lugo.

I did Julia. Paramedics and stomach pumps are a wonderful thing.
B.T.W:
Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Rome’s first dictator Octavian Augustus. Augustus ruled over 40 years and died in his 70’s. Sadly his successors lived…shorter lives…actually MUCH shorter lives.
Dave…

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